/lit/ - Literature

[Anonymous No.6236020]

What is the shittiest book you've ever read and which books do you refuse to read?

[Anonymous No.6236026]

> Shittiest book I've read

Haunted by Chuck Palahniuk. Not going to go near another one of his books again. It's a bunch of shock-value short stories lazily connected together. The only one really worth reading is "Guts."

I'll never go near Twilight, 50 Shades Of Grey, Mills & Boone shit or popular Young Adult fiction like The Maze Runner.

[Anonymous No.6236027]

lol u read books? neeerd

[Anonymous No.6236028]

The Slap is one of the most unimaginably awful books I've read. Hilariously (and kind of brilliantly), anytime someone tries to criticize it, they are accused of not liking it just because the subject matter is "controversial".

BUT, I did finish it. I've leafed through some Stephen King books before and was honestly embarrassed for him.

[Anonymous No.6236033]

Worst I ever finished

[Anonymous No.6236035]

>>6236028
Woops forgot the picture.

[Anonymous No.6236037]

>>6236028
That's what you get for reading books for single stay-at-home mothers. The Slap is nearly as bad as all those books about child abuse that sell like hotcakes.

Stephen King is really inconsistent. I don't get why he gets as much praise as he does.

[Anonymous No.6236039]

>>6236027
Well meme'd, my friend!

[Anonymous No.6236044]

[Anonymous No.6236049]

>>6236044
Lol Ellis can't even write a Blurb without sucking cock.

[Anonymous No.6236058]

Anything by Dickens.

[Anonymous No.6236066]

>>6236058
Charles Dickens? i'm no fan of industrial Britain settings, but i really admire his writing style. he has a very vivid way of describing his characters and their actions.

[Anonymous No.6236081]

>>6236037
Stephen King's fun and has written a shitload of books. Everyone's bound to like at least one thing he's written.

I thought that The Shining was really good, also I liked about 3/4's of the short stories by him that I read.

[Anonymous No.6236090]

>worst book I ever read
aside from self-published garbage, The Circle by Dave Eggers. I get that the jejune style's probably intentional, but fuck it, I still hated every moment I read the fucking thing.

>books I refuse to read
Anything with John Green's or Neil Gaiman's names on it. Sandman disappointed me immensely, and

"Ok?"
"Ok."
Okay...?

[Anonymous No.6236099]

when i was younger, there was this YA book series about a boy who got turned into a vampire and lived in a circus. it wasn't all that bad until the third book or so, when the author slipped in a passage where the protagonist suddenly started erotically fantasizing about his mother and "considered her a woman." why would anyone write that in a series intended for kids? i'm thick skinned as hell, but god damn. that part creeped me out so much i dropped the series right there.

[Anonymous No.6236102]

>>6236020
Won't touch anything by Bronte sisters. Way too dry for modern tastes (though I see the merit in studying them).

[Anonymous No.6236110]

>>6236020
i used to think less than zero was terrible because of its simple prose. i think that the stranger is shit, but it has its gradeschool merit. ive dropped murakami a few times after 50 pages. night of the gun is a joke.

[Anonymous No.6236156]

my answer--pic related, just not interested, sorry!

>>6236026
good choice with Haunted, I think that was one of the final straws with Palahniuk with me (that and Diary stealing it's entire plot from a well known horror movie)...I only remember 2 or 3 of the story threads, but each was really dumb and obvious and gross in a bad and depressing way
>>6236044
same

[Anonymous No.6236171]

>>6236020
>What is the shittiest book you've ever read
Probably a tie between A Handmaid's Tale and Footfall
>and which books do you refuse to read?
Idk, probably some YA shit like Twilight or something.
>>6236102
>the Brontes
>dry
u wot

[Anonymous No.6236309]

Hunted Past Reason by Richard Matheson
or
The Tommyknockers by Stephen King
or
Invisible Life by E. Lynn Harris

[Anonymous No.6236317]

>>6236044

Fuck i ordered this book in hardcover cause i read it would be better to read it that way.

I hope you're just a dumb insipid fuck.

[Anonymous No.6236328]

>>6236317
> i hope you're just a dumb insipid fuck

Don't hype it up too much, anon. It's not that bad, but it's not great either. It relies too much on its meta gimmicks of graphology, fake footnotes, nonsensical rambling, etc. It has some good ideas but it doesn't know how to utilise them in an engaging psychological way. It's really Wasted Potential: The Book.

[Anonymous No.6236331]

>>6236090
I dunno, Neil Gaiman charms me, honestly. I don't think he'll be one of the best writers of our time, but he's definitely entertaining and whimsical.

[Anonymous No.6236336]

>>6236110
Ryu Murakami of Audition-fame or the other one who writes middle of the road insipid shit like Norwegian Wood?

[Anonymous No.6236338]

>>6236317
> I hope you're just a dumb insipid fuck

/lit/ doesn't like House Of Leaves, anon. It's not a good book. It wishes it was smarter than it actually was.

[Anonymous No.6236339]

>>6236020

>shittiest

Meaning of night by Michael cox. Most self important, inanely rambled piece of shit I ever had the misfortune of reading. God damn it.

>refuse to read

Finnegan's wake. Similar reasoning, it's just such masturbatory horse shit which I will never read out of principle. I'd sooner read 50 shades.

[Anonymous No.6236349]

>>6236338

Well i read a bunch of reviews of people chronicling their psychological torture during the period they read it, which is why i bought it.

[Anonymous No.6236355]

Either Pride and Prejudice or Hard Times

P&P: So fucking boring social satire. I don't care about matchmaking at all and utterly despise the entirety of the Regency gentry class. Got about 150 pages in. Didn't help that my girlfriend had made me watch the BBC miniseries previously so I knew everything that was going to happen.

Hard Times: Fuck you Dickens, fuck you for this saccharine sentimental patronising prejudicial trivialisation of industrialism, replete with cardboard cut-out characters and a plot somehow both ludicrous and predictable . It's the only Dickens I've read and I truly hope his other works are better.

[Anonymous No.6236384]

>>6236349
I'd say just wipe away what you've read about the book and go into it blind with no expectations. You'll probably enjoy it quite a lot then. I found myself being severely disappointed as I expected an amazing book from all of the reviews I read beforehand.

[Anonymous No.6236392]

>>6236349
>house of leaves
>psychological torture

Was the psychological torture that they were being forced to finish it or something? There's legitimately nothing terrifying about the book unless the idea of a non-euclidean labyrinth makes you shit yourself.

[Anonymous No.6236452]

Those of you who refuse to read YA have no idea about the depths of hell. I've read so much terrible YA I have too many to choose from, but ThONErteen RTHREEasons Why is probably the worst. It stands out since it tries to be transgressive and address suicide but ends up being this petty shitshow about how middle class kids can be meaniefaces and supposedly that can cause a girl to vengefully kill herself. So the plot is basically this girl made these tapes right before she killed herself and they contain the "reasons why" she did and those reasons contain people who wronged her. The reasons are super dumb like "Oh this person said my butt looked good" and one of them is even "this OTHER GIRL got raped and I didn't report it." The only good one is when she gets stalked. Now our narrator is supposed to be a reason himself but the big dumb twist is that he wasn't! The suicide ends up being only a tragic play for him because he didn't get to tap that girl's ass and save her with romance. By far the worst treatment of depression I've ever read. Plus the style and writing are just terrible (even by YA standards).

As for something I'll never read I would love to say I'd never read another John Green book, but honestly I'll probably read the next one just to keep up with the conversation (that's why I read YA at all--so that I can back up my criticism with examples). I guess I refuse to read The Fall.

[Anonymous No.6236464]

>>6236044
I bought this book and enjoyed it, although dunno if I'd enjoy it so much now. /x/ fucking loves this book and /x/ was my first board I visited on 4chan so I was pretty excited while reading about it and actually reading it. I have a dorky nostalgia for this book in that sense.

[Anonymous No.6236465]

>>6236452

do you have vegina?

[Anonymous No.6236468]

>>6236044
>>6236317

You should have just read the Chinese powerpoint version instead.

[Anonymous No.6236469]

>>6236464
>/x/ fucking loves this book

pretty much the biggest condemnation you can give on here

[Anonymous No.6236484]

>>6236464
I get what you're saying but /x/ seriously has no taste

[Anonymous No.6236490]

>>6236020
>shittiest book you've ever read
Wake Up by Jack Kerouac. It's literally a book meant to convert you to buddhism, but I bought a little Kerouac ''bundle'' if you will, with 2 of his books bound together (Maggie Cassidy, which was pretty good, and Wake Up) so I didn't really get a chance to read into it before I bought it. It only cost me about 2.50, though.
>which books do you refuse to read?
Self-help, neo spiritual and anything written by a person who is alive and not white.

[Anonymous No.6236498]

>>6236464
>>6236468
>>6236469
>>6236484

If you google "scariest novels of all time", then you'll see House of Leaves the fourth listed book.
The shining being number one and the Haunting of Hill House number 2.

[Anonymous No.6236502]

>>6236490
>anything written by a person who is alive and not white

[Anonymous No.6236509]

>>6236355
Bruh P and P is fucking hilarious and has a riveting narrative

[Anonymous No.6236538]

>shittiest book
Topographie idéale pour une agression caractérisée.

>books you refuse to read
Any YA, fanfic, pop philosophy, 99% of psychology and psychanalysis, post-modernism, "self-help" books, lgbt lit.

[Anonymous No.6236543]

Under the Volcano

[Anonymous No.6236555]

>>6236538
you may have autism

[Anonymous No.6236558]

>>6236392
>unless the idea of a non-euclidean labyrinth makes you shit yourself.

Yes, yes it does.

[Anonymous No.6236566]

>>6236543
>Under the Volcano

What didn't you like about it?

[Anonymous No.6236576]

>>6236339

Finnegans Wake is the apex of culture. If you aren't ready for it, wait for enlightenment. In the meantime, don't hate the goal.

[Anonymous No.6236599]

>>6236020
catch-22 was the shittiest, try-hardiest book i've ever had the displeasure of reading.

[Anonymous No.6236617]

>>6236599
What makes you say that, anon?

[Anonymous No.6236808]

>>6236392
You can just admit you were too stupid to understand it you know.

[Anonymous No.6236815]

>>6236020
Invisible Man is pretty much the worst book I have ever read.

[Anonymous No.6236837]

>>6236020
Maybe not all time, but it's definitely the worst I've read in the past few years. If it means spending a whole paragraph describing wine being poured without any subtext or literary style, "worldbuilding" is one of the most self indulgent things an author can do.

[Anonymous No.6236854]

>>6236837
Godddddd that book

Recently found the ebook, started to read it blindly

So much forced wit, no-one talks "normal", everybody talks the same overly verbose way, you just know the author spent weeks coming up with all this shit banter

Did not get far before I deleted it

[Anonymous No.6236873]

>>6236854
Exactly! They all talk in the same fucking voice and every conversation is a competition to see who can say the most edgy/sassy thing possible. At first I found it charming, but after 100 pages of exactly the same shit I couldn't stand it. And what's worse is that the author tends to write in the same voice as well.

[Anonymous No.6236875]

>>6236599
>>6236815
>>6236339
>Finnegan's wake. Similar reasoning, it's just such masturbatory horse shit which I will never read out of principle. I'd sooner read 50 sh

Those are some hot opinions. too bad they're all wrong

>>6236156
>my answer--pic related, just not interested, sorry!

I like it, but I can understand why you might not

[Anonymous No.6236889]

>>6236875
>opinions.
>wrong

You're not very good at this are you m8?

[Anonymous No.6236894]

>>6236837

Yeah, I agree with this. The world it's set in is superficially interesting, but the book is awful. The sequel's worse though, I couldn't even finish it.

[Anonymous No.6236955]

>>6236020
The Giver was terrible

I won't read educational books on things I already know.

I'm sure that given the time I would eventually exhaust every book I consider to be of quality, and start reading YA, though it would take sever centuries of cocoon mode.

[Anonymous No.6236988]

>I'm such a decadent girl! Don't hit on me silly Otto! XD

Tossed with the force of a thousand Dorothy Parkers

[Anomalous No.6237043]

> shittest book ever read
The bible

[Anonymous No.6237109]

[Anonymous No.6237194]

>>6237109
This. And not even because of the politics, it's just poorly written.
I'll give most things a try but I'll probably never going near another Bret Easton Ellis book again

[Anonymous No.6237205]

>>6236020
Some book that takes place in Africa about beating your wives, eating yams, and evil white people

[Anonymous No.6237232]

Books I stay away from are anything my coworkers recommend to me.

[Anonymous No.6237245]

>>6237205
Things Fall Apart?

[Anonymous No.6237246]

[Anonymous No.6237329]

>>6236020

Like Water for Chocolate in 10th grade

what a heap of horseshit

[Anonymous No.6237364]

>>6236049
You can't write a post on 4chan without sucking cock.

Regards, B.E.E.

[Anonymous No.6237369]

>>6236099
>creeped out by YA
>thick skinned

[Anonymous No.6237409]

>>6236317

He is, don't worry

[Anonymous No.6237435]

Couldn't stand protagonist or Finny.

[Anonymous No.6237441]

>>6236044
Oh. My professor uncle bought me this for christmas. Haven't found the time to read it yet.

[Anonymous No.6237447]

>>6236020
On the Road.
I'll never read: 50 shades of Grey(barely lasted through first 5 pages) and Twilight,
anything by Pablo Coelho(quotes from his book make me think his writing is incredibly sentimental and pseudo-profound), Margaret Atwood or John Green.

[Anonymous No.6237460]

Hated Margaret Atwood's writing
Refuse to read more of Atwood's writing

[Anonymous No.6237473]

>>6236099
Hah, reminds me of this book I had to read called Suicide Notes for health class back in high school. Basically, it's about a kid being a snarky dick to the psychiatrists trying to help him after he attempts suicide. Then halfway through, he ends up sucking another patient's dick in the shower, getting kinda raped, and then going back for more. It's only after three or four vivid gay sex scenes that they formally tell us the protagonist is gay and that he had tried to kill himself because some dude had turned him down. Then it just devolves into a PSA about how hard it is to be gay.

[Anonymous No.6237474]

>>6237364
Why am i so ready to believe that this is actually bret

[Anonymous No.6237476]

>>6236020
>shittiest
After Dark - Murakami. I was going to say Taipei, but it was actually an alright read.
>refuse to read
YA, self-help.

[Anonymous No.6237480]

>>6237473
I read that too and I think it was more him trying to smooch his hag's boyfriend. Basically tried to kill himself over teen drama, what faggot.
>It's only after three or four vivid gay sex scenes that they formally tell us the protagonist is gay
Laughed at loud at that.

[Anonymous No.6237485]

Tuesdays With Morrie

[Anonymous No.6237494]

>>6237476
Shit, really? I just got After Dark. Would I like it if I enjoyed Wind-Up Bird and Hard Boiled Wonderland?

[Anonymous No.6237513]

>>6236452
>that's why I read YA at all--so that I can back up my criticism with examples
Jesus man, how do you find the time? I read way too slowly to bother with stuff I think is trash. I'll read about it and would possibly read a few chapters or something, but that's it.

I don't even watch films like transformers or other trash anymore, even though the viewing period is controlled and brief. I'll maybe watch some clips or half of a movie or something.

Waste of time. Read what you like.

[Anonymous No.6237518]

>>6236490
>Self-help, neo spiritual and anything written by a person who is alive and not white.

actually a great answer.

[Anonymous No.6237521]

>>6237474
I could see Bret posting on 4chan, but he'd probably use a trip, he's too desperate for attention not to.

[Anonymous No.6237522]

>>6236020
This girl recommended me "The Diary of Anne Frank", I told her that I have had enough jewish propaganda, and that I have seen enough stuff telling me how bad the holocaust was. She answered me "Heil Hitler!" (She is a good friend)

So, I was wondering, how good is it? This is not the first person that has recommended it to me.

[Anonymous No.6237530]

>>6237205
>>6237245
I read it a few weeks ago. I liked it at first but I found it sort of tedious by the end. I wouldn't re-read it, but definitely not bad.

[Anonymous No.6237558]

>>6237476
>I was going to say Taipei, but it was actually an alright read.

I think what makes it more readable is that the prose is so easy to digest that it's a lot easier to stay attentive. I'll be honest, Tao did good there.

[Anonymous No.6237795]

The Poisonwood Bible is the shittiest piece of shit I've ever had the displeasure of reading. It was the shallowest pseudo-philosophical drivel I've ever seen.
>>6237513
Not him, but reading shit like doesn't take long at all. When I read literature, I have to read it slowly to take it in and keep up with what's happening. When I read YA shit (The most recent being The Poisonwood Bible)
I'm able to just sprint through it and still get everything that happens because it's so simple.

[Anonymous No.6237809]

>>6237522
>So, I was wondering, how good is it? This is not the first person that has recommended it to me.
I read it in eighth grade. It was shit back then and I'm willing to bet I'd think the same now. It was too childish for eighth graders to be reading, much less an adult.

[Anonymous No.6237817]

>>6236889
Am I on fucking reddit? Of course you can have wrong opinions in that they are poorly thought out and not supported by logical or common sense. To say that every opinion is valid is in itself a completely invalid opinion.

[Anonymous No.6237820]

>>6237043
b8

[Anonymous No.6237826]

>>6237205
>disliking yams
Geeeeeeeet oooouuuuuuuuuut

[Anonymous No.6237832]

>>6237460
I was massively disappointed by The Blind Assassin. Far from the worst I've read, but a big letdown for sure.

[Anonymous No.6237836]

>>6237205
Poisionwood Bible?
>>6237795

[Anonymous No.6237841]

First thing that comes to mind: A Song of Ice and Fire series.
I read through the whole thing at a time when I was temporarily disabled, and at its worst it's probably the most infuriating thing I've ever read.
It has some good characters and the plot is somewhat solid, but
>most of the time it just bored me to tears
>the only thing worse than the dialogue was his attempt at imitating sound effects with text
>same lines repeated over and over by different characters made me feel like I was playing a video game with badly programmed NPCs, who all have the same personality and are basically exact copies of each other
There probably exist books far worse than these, but I can't recall having read any of them.

[Anonymous No.6237912]

>>6236033
This. Awful book with some of the most inconsistent pacing and poorly strung together ideas I have encountered.

[Anonymous No.6238050]

>>6236099
The totally un-subtle author-insert series by Darren Shan, right? FFS, the main character is named Darren Shan, and he's just a boring Gary Stu.

God knows why I read the entire series, but I can assure you that you didn't miss out on much of interest. There were a couple of scenes that were fun (for the 14 year old that I was), but it wasn't worth slogging through 12 books. The plot was a retarded mess. The world-building was worse. The characters? Even worse.

[Anonymous No.6238132]

My worst is a toss up between either John Dies at the End or Omoo.

Book I refuse the most to read is probably Women are from Venus Men are from Mars or whatever it's called, regardless of how much my wife nags me to.

[Anonymous No.6238163]

>>6238132
> John Dies At The End

I dunno, part of its appeal for me was how pulpy the story was and it was clearly somewhat ironic too. It was pretty amusing in a crude way and had some inventive moments. I really kinda enjoyed the whole "insectoid machinery" and it's playful nature with chance and coincidences. It's not as clever as it wishes, but it wears its b-movie dorky heart on its sleeve. I'd certainly re-read it again, I actually really enjoyed it.

[Anonymous No.6238169]

>>6236875
Elaborate pls
though I agree with you on catch-22

>>6236576

Apex of culture? Please. I will admit that it's stuffed with recondite references and, shit, you have to be exceedingly well educated (probably to a fault) in...basically arcane knowledge to get anything out of it. If you can read it, you're probably exponentially more intelligent than I. That doesn't, on its own, make it worth much as literature, though, imo.

[Anonymous No.6238208]

[Anonymous No.6238266]

[Anonymous No.6238344]

>>6236020
>What is the shittiest book you've ever read
Fifty shades of Grey. Read the first one, decided it was too much of a torture, didn't read the rest.

[Anonymous No.6239068]

>>6236576
The wake is a decent book although its crafted in a way where one could confuse it as a book of Dodgson's for adults

[Anonymous No.6239098]

>>6236099

DON'T BAD MOUTH THE DARREN SHAN SERIES.

[Anonymous No.6239115]

>>6236873
same thing with The Belgariad series by David Eddings. fucking hate that series

[Anonymous No.6239121]

you guys read this? when we read it in 9th grade everybody absolutely hated it, but at the time I loved it. What do you guys think of it?

[Anonymous No.6239458]

Dorian Gray

[Anonymous No.6239469]

>>6236020
gravity rainbow

[Anonymous No.6239501]

I haven't read it except for a few excerpts but suffice it to say, what a pile of horseshit.

[Anonymous No.6239502]

>>6239098
Dude, it was kinda crappy.

[Anonymous No.6239511]

the perks of being a wallflower
lol i like the smiths im so nerdy xD

[Anonymous No.6239513]

IQ84

thanks lit

[Anonymous No.6239713]

>>6236099

Bull fucking shit. I read Darren Shan a million times as a kid, and there was nothing like that in there.

[Anonymous No.6239748]

>>6236020
The Brooklyn Follies is the shittiest thing I've ever read.
I won't read anything from that fucker ever, ever, ever, ever...

That 9/11 reference at the end, without having nothing to do with the rest, which is also shit...

Oh, Lord...

[Anonymous No.6239752]

>ctrl-f catcher in the rye
>0 results
Literally the most overrated piece of shit to ever be written.

[Anonymous No.6239761]

The actual worst? Eragon, objectively. Didn't even finish it.

Outside of random childhood books though, I really disliked Kafka on the Shore. While it did have a few good moments towards the beginning, it really dipped hard towards the end and I ended up really disliking it after finishing it.

As for literature I will never read, probably Finnegans Wake. The concept sounds amazing but given I know what it's like it puts me off greatly.

[Anonymous No.6239834]

Their Eyes Were Watching God. A boring, stereotype-perpetuating, entitled, stupidly romantic, "fuck men," feminazi book.
I will never go near self-help books and 99% of YA books.

[Anonymous No.6239872]

>>6237485
Ugh, this. I don't understand the hype over Albom's sappy, apparently wisdom-seeking crap.

>>6239761
Agreeing with this for the most part. I finished the series though. It's nothing really original, but Paolini did start writing it in his early teens. Hopefully, he can come up with better material.

[Anonymous No.6239888]

>>15883693
holy fuck this reminded me of the book "shaq and the beanstalk" i havent read or thought of that since grade school.

[Anonymous No.6239900]

>>6239834
seriously a bad book but lots of kinky sex scenes, dont think it's written by a fuckmenologist or anything

[Anonymous No.6239903]

>>6236490
>anything written by a person who is alive and not white
What about Russian lit?

[Anonymous No.6240146]

>>6239903
>russians arent white
well meme'd my friend